Fiber container



W. C. WE|S..

FIBER CONTAINER. APPLICATION FILED IAN-29.1917.

Patented July 8, 1919.

-2 SHEETSSHEET I.

mm WW;

INVENTOR.

A TTORNEY WW L WITNESS w. c. WEIS FIBER CONTAINER.

APPLICATION FILED JAN-29. t9l7.

Patented July 8, 1919.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

I INVENTOR' ATTORNEY FATENT' carton.

WILLIAM CHRISTIAN WEIS, OF MONROE, MICHIGAN, ASSIQNOR TO THE WEIS FIBRE CONTAINER CORPORATION, OF MONROE, MICHIGAN, A CORPORATION OF MICHIGAN.

FIBER CONTAINER.

1 ,aoas-ss.

Application filed. January 29, 1917. Serial No. $5,080?

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, WILLIAM (3. Wins, a

citizen of the United States of America, and

resident of-Monroe, Monroe county, Michigan, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Fiber Containers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to fiber containers of that kind in which the blank of sheet material is folded in a manner toprovide the sides of the container, and in which the flaps which are flexibly connected with the upper and lower ends of the sides are folded to provide the top and bottom of the container, an opening being provided in the top of the container for the Introduction of liquid or dry oommoditiesd and the con tainer being sealedby a closure Which is inserted-in saidopening.

Prior to my invention, containers of this kind have been made by properly folding the blanks, and by punching an opening in the fl-apsforming the top of the container, during the general operation of folding the blank, this method being considered necessary, or at least desirable, in order to insure alinement of the holes in the difierent flaps, and thereby to provide an even or perfect edge for said opening.

The object of my invention, therefore, is to provide an improved method of manufacture and construction which will permit the formation of the holes in said flaps before.

the blank is folded, thereby to simplify and reduce the cost of manufacture.

A further object is to provide an improved construction and method of manufacture which will, when the holes are thus pre liminarily formed in the flaps before the folding of the blanks, entirely obviate the necessity of bringing said holes exactly into alinement witheach other, in order to form an even and perfect edge for the opening or mouth of the container, and whereby, if the said holes are not in exact alinement with each other, said opening will have a true or clean edge of the desired character.

To this and other useful ends, my invention consists in matters hereinafter, set forth and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a plan view of a sheet of paper or fiber, showing four blanks in outline thereon, and illustrating the method of cutting the blanks from said sheet, with the apertures formed in the flaps for the top of each container.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged plan view of one of said blanks, with the central portion thereof broken away for convenience of illustration. Fig. 3 is a perspective of the complete fiber container with the closurethereof in position in the opening or mouth of the container. V I

Fig. 4 is a vertical section on. line li in Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a plan of said container, showing certain portions broken away to .illustrate the construction.

Fig. 6 is a transverse horizontal section on line 66 in Fig. 3.

Fig. 7 is a detail vertical section on line" 7-7 in Fig. 4.

' As thus illustrated, the blanks are made in. the manner illustrated in Fig 1, which is as follows: A sheet of paper is fed along by any suitable means 1n the direction indicated by the arrow, and the blanks are cut from the sheet by any suitable means, each blank having the outline indicated in Figs.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented July 8 I919. I

1 and 2, it being understoodthat in Fig. 2

the middle portion of the blank has been broken away for convenience of illustra tion. .Thus, each blank is provided with parallel and flexibly connected side sections 1, 2, .3 and 4, and an end portion 5, Which, when the blank is folded into the shape shown in Fig. 3, is glued to the section 1 to I these two flaps will'be folded edge-to-edgeto provide one layer ofthe bottom, while 00 produce the top of the container. There are dilferent ways of folding these flaps, but good results have been obtained by folding the short flaps inside and the long or square flaps outside. The flaps 10', 11, 12 and 13 are provided respectively with apertures 14:,

15, 1(5 and 17, the apertures 14 and 16 being in the form of round holes, and the apertures 15 and 17 being in the form of balf-roimd notches. When the blank is properly folded, these apertures are brought opposite each other to form the opening or mouth of the container. In this way, the holes which are made in the flaps to form the opening or mouth of the container are formed in the sheet material before the blank is folded. i

It will be seen that if said holes are all of exactly the same size, and that if the flaps 10, 11. 12 and 13 are not accurately folded, the different holes will not be brought into exact alinemeut with each other, so that the edgesof the opening or mouth of the container will be uneven or imperfect. As it is diilicult to fold a blank of this kind with such exactness, the said holes are, as a matter of special improvement, of different sizes, the hole 14 being the smallest, and the holes formed by the apertures 15, 16 and 17 being somewhat larger, so that the edge of the hole 14 will provide an inwardly projecting and overhanging edge for the opening or mouth of the container. In this way, the different holes can be out of alin'ement with each other, but such inaccuracy in the folding of the flaps will not be objectionable, inasmuch as the inaccuracy will not bring the edges of theholes formed by the apertures 15, 16 and 17 beyond the edges of the hole 14, at any point in the circumference of the latter, inasmuch as the difference in size of the holes is sufficient to take care of this discrepancy in the alinement of the holes. so that either one or both of the lower holes can be displaced laterally to some extent without bringing their edges out from under the edge of the hole 1% at any point. In other words, theopening or mouth of the container has a clean and perfect edge which is formed by the edge of the hole 1 1, on the upper surface of the top of the container, and, as the other holes are somewhat larger, any inaccuracy in the alinement of the holes will not show around the edge of the opening or the mouth of the container. Of course, the intention is to fold the flaps so that the three holes in the three thicknesses of the top will be concentric, but this is not necessary inorder to insure a true or perfect edge for the 1,sos,sss

without resulting in any defect in the true and perfectly circular and clean edge provided by the hole 14 in the upper layer of the top.

Any suitable means can be employed for folding the blank to produce the container. Preferably, however, the flaps 10, 11, 12 and 13 are folded first, after the'two ends ofthe blank are brought around and secured together, thus forming the opening or mouth of the container by the mere folding of the top flaps. Then an instrument of suitable character is inserted through the opening or mouth of the container, and the bottom flaps G, 7, 8 and 9 are then folded over upon each other to form the bottom of the container. The top and bottom flaps can be secured together in any suitable manner, but are preferablysecured by glue or other adhesive, so

that a strong and solid top and an equallystrong and solid bottom are provided for the container, both being 3-ply in character. It will also be seen that the top is preferably raised a little around the opening or mouth of the container, and this is preferably done during the compression and gluing together of the flaps 10, 11, 12 and 13, in any suitable manner. After the blank is thus folded and glued together to form the container, the latter is then imn'iersed in hot parafiin, if it is to .be used for holding liquids. It can be used without the parafiin if it is to be used for certain other purposes.

The importance of the even and perfect edge for the opening or mouth of the container becomes more, apparent when it is considered that the closure A of the bottle or container B is formed to enter this opening or mouth, being made of fiber or other suitable sheet material, and is then expanded to bring it into tight engagement with the inner edge of said opening or mouth. For this pui'pose, it is desirable that the said opening shall have a perfectly true and clean and accurately formed edge, so that the expansion and closure will effectively seal the container, making it absolutely air-tight. If the apertures in the top flaps were all punched or cut in a manner to make them exactly the same in size or diameter, it is evident that any inaccuracy in the folding of the flaps would produce uneven edges around the opening or month of the con tainer,.inasmuch as the edges of the lowermost hole, for eXa-n'iple, would project a dis tance inward at one side of the opening or mouth of the container, and the middle or intermediate hole might be shifted laterally enough to bring its edge into projecting position at. the opposite side of said openlng or mouth, thus making it 'difliculuto tightly seal the container by the expansion of said closure. With the foregoing construction and method of manufacture, however, as explained, this difliculty will not be liable to occur, inasmuch as the inaccuracies in the I folding of the flaps will always be more or the edge of the hole 14 will always constitute tainer.

the sealing edge of the opening or mouth of the container, and in this way the holes can be inexpensively cutor unched in the blank at any time before the atter is folded, thus i'naking it unnecessary to punch the opening or mouth of the container after the flaps are folded together, and this way simplifyin and reducing the cost of manufacture.-

it will be, understood, of course, that the parallel lines 18, 19 and 20 of the blank are score lines, of the usual character, so that the sections 1, 2, 3 and 4 are flexibly connected together to fold along the lines which form the four corners of the con- The lines 21 and 22 are also score lines, so that the top and bottom'fiaps are flexibly connected with the side sections. Fig. '1 illustrates an economical method of cutting the blanks from the. sheet, the bottom flaps of one blank interlocking with the bottomflaps of another blank, so that very little wasteresults from the cuttin of the blanks from the sheet material. T 1e apertures for the top flaps can be punched or cut at the same time that the blank is cut and scored. The lines 23, 24, 25 and 26, it will be understood, therefore, represent cuts made entirely through the sheet material, which is also true to the lines 27 extending between the lines 22, as well as the lines 28 which extend between the flaps to thelouter edges of theblanks, so that the flaps can fold separately, being hinged to the body of the blank alon the lines 21 and 22, in a manner that will be readily understood.

From Fig. 1, it will be seen that a comparativelysmall amount of paper or other fiber board is wasted in the formation of the blanks. Practically all that is wasted is the material cut away at the opposite edges of the sheet to form the short flaps 11 and 13, and the portions vwhich are cut awa to form the apertures in Fig. 1. The blanks of the upper row or series extend, of course, in a direction opposite to a lower row or series, so that the long bottom flaps of each blank in-theupper row will be opposite the short bottom flaps of a blank 'in the lower row, and whereby the short flaps of the upper row will be opposite the long flaps of the lower row. Thus the blanks can .be F struck ofi in pairs", each pair consisting of a blank in one row and be left between the successive pairs of blanks, but this will not add very much, to the total waste of material. opening is preferable, obviously, in view of While a round,

the character of the structure and the' method of sealing the opening, it is obvious that the opening can be of other shapes, if such is desired, without departing from the spirit of my invention. n

With the construction shown and described, the mouth of'the container has an under-cut edge, so that the opening thus formed has an overhang at opposite edges thereof, which overhang insures proper engagement of the under-cut edge of the mouth with the sides of the closure, when the latter is expanded therein.

What I claim as my invention is t 1. In combination with a closure, a container formed from a blank having flaps provided with round openings to register when the blank is folded, so that the container has a top formed by the superimposed flaps and provided with a mouth through which the container is filled and to receive.

said closure by inward insertion of the closure through the mouth, thereby to seal the said mouth having the smaller diameter thereof at the outside of the container, so that the openings may be more or less eccentric to each other without impairing the shape of said mouth.

3; A container and closure therefor, as specified in claim 1, said flaps being four in number, two of said flaps being relatively large and having their openings centrally located therein, and the other two fiaps being smaller and formed with notches in the edges thereof to form the third opening.

'erally below the edge of said mouth, and

4:. In combination with. a closure, a container formed from a blank having fla s providedwith openings to register when t 1e blank is folded, so that the container has a top formed by the superimposed flaps and provided with a mouth through which the container is filled vand to receive said closure by inward insertion of the closure through the mouth, thereby to seal the. con

tainer after the filling thereof through said mouth, having said openings of difi'erentareas to obviate the necessity of exact registration thereof in order to provide the mouth with a suitable edge for receiving 5 said closure to seal the container.

5. In a container, side Walls and a bottom formed from a blank, and a top Wall formed by flaps having holes which provide a mouth for the container, one hole being mouth to engage said rim and having a flange to rest thereon.

Signed by inc at Monroe, Mich, this 24th 15 day of January, 1917.

WILLIAM CHRISTIAN WEIS. 

